Summer Educational Session Descriptions

Week of July 20:

Presenter: Tricia Hall Session Title: Choose Happy Session Description: Does success drive happiness or happiness drive success? How can you be intentional about increasing your happiness? In this session, we will take a look at some science and studies behind happiness and mindset. Sisters will learn about the value of self-care and be given examples of strategies and practices they can utilize daily to shift their thinking, mindset and increase positivity and happiness in their lives. Click here to access this live session.

Presenter: Amy Phillips Session Title: Living with Heart – A Practical Look at Living and Leading from Heart- Centered Consciousness Session Description: In this session, attendees will explore the difference between living from your heart (being authentic, vulnerable, courageous, and in touch with emotional wisdom) and living from your head (listening to fear-based narratives, being reactive vs. responsive, overthinking, judging, etc.). Attendees will be presented with social and science-based research that shows that heart-centered living and leading (in the home, workplace, within Sigma Kappa, within our communities and most meaningful relationships) leads to greater fulfillment, more happiness, more peace of mind and more desirable outcomes. Attendees will gain greater awareness around their own fear-based, reactive behavior and learn tools to tap create possibilities for more conscious decision-making. Click here to access this live session.

Presenter: Maggie Darden Session Title: Exploring the Eight Dimensions of Wellness Session Description: Have you ever caught yourself sucked into feeling humdrum with the routine of life? Do you have goals you want to achieve, but don’t know where to start? Or is there one thing you wish you could do every day that will make you feel happier? In this session, you will learn about the Eight Dimensions of Wellness and Gretchen Rubin’s Strategies for Habit Change. By the end of this session you will identify at least one area for wellness in which you will develop strategies for changing your habits to meet your ultimate goals.

Presenters: Allison Evans and Sarah Monson Session Title: Sigma Service with a Smile! Session Description: Do you feel your alumnae chapter needs a boost in philanthropic programming or would like a little advice with fundraising events for Sigma Kappa Foundation? Look no further! We will review all kinds of relevant and doable ideas for chapters of all sizes and age groups to expand your service event programming. At the end of this session you will take home multiple plans for potential events that can benefit Sigma Kappa Foundation PULSE fund, Alzheimer’s disease research fund, Maine Seacoast Mission fund, and local community causes that will bring a smile to everyone!

Week of July 27:

Presenter: Sigma Kappa national recruitment team Session Title: The Whys of Recruitment Session Description: The Sigma Kappa national recruitment team will educate convention attendees on various whys behind recruitment efforts, initiatives and topics. Come and join the opportunity to dig into the lifetime value recruitment and membership experiences can provide. Click here to access this live session.

Presenter: Karen Parnell & Erin Dougherty Session Title: Forever Friends – Finding, Deepening and Keeping Friendships in the Electronic Age Session Description: In the connected world we live in, loneliness is an epidemic. We are all longing for deep, meaningful friendships to enrich our lives. We may have a lot of friends online or IRL, but still feel lonely. In this interactive session we will learn about the three actions that lead to belonging. We will brainstorm concrete, real life ways that we can make, keep and deepen our friendships, both in college and in all life stages after college. We will also talk about how things may change in a post- COVID19 world. Click here to access this live session.

Presenters: Laura Turner and Sarah Monson Session Title: Incorporating New Alumnae into the Mystic Bond Session Description: Recruiting sisters to join your alumnae chapter should be a fun process. However, sometimes it is frustrating and you may not know where to start. In this session, we would like to share tips and tricks that will help you expand your alumnae membership. We also welcome collegiate members that would like help with their alumnae programming.

Week of August 3:

Presenters: Emily Shepard and Sara Harvey Session Title: Will Housing Ever Be “Normal” Again? Session Description: Join members of the housing team as we take a historical glimpse at Sigma Kappa housing trends and the evolution of student housing. With dramatic changes in housing on the rise, traditional sorority house features are being reimagined. Now, a global pandemic serves as the basis for new operating standards and detailed plans for opening Sigma Kappa houses across the country. The evolution of change in Sigma Kappa housing will be explored in detail. Click here to access this live session.

Presenters: Casey Keller, Scott Fussell, Brooke Lawson Session Title: Putting Our Money Where Our Mental Health Is Session Description: More so than the previous generations, students are bringing more to college than ever before, both physically and emotionally. Is the corporation equipped to handle this? Understanding who is headed to campus, what she is bringing and if she is likely to join a sorority will provide Sigma Kappas with insight on how to meet member needs in the house. Attendees are sure to gain this insight during the session. Additionally, we will explore simple changes in the house that not only enhance the member experience but also positively impact one’s mental health and wellbeing. Click here to access this live session.

Presenters: Emily Shepard, Cindy Stellhorn, Sean Callan Session Title: Join Us at the Table Session Description: The NHC series kicks off the 2020-21 season of conversations with an expert look at housing amid a global pandemic. The Sigma Kappa National Housing Corporation Vice President of Programming hosts longtime friends and experts in the insurance and legal fields at the table. We will explore ways to mitigate risk while offering a valuable membership experience in the house.

Week of August 10:

Presenter: Annie Warnimont Session Title: Transferable skills: How your Membership Experience is Preparing you for Adulting Session Description: From the outside looking in, you’ll never understand it. From the inside looking out, you can’t explain it. We’re talking about your membership experience and how Sigma Kappa is preparing you for the real world. Join us for a conversation about transferable skills and how to apply what you’re learning now into your career goals. Click here to access this live session.

Presenter: Carly Walter Session Title: Seemingly Invisible Barriers to Diversity: Toxic Femininity in Panhellenic Sororities Session Description: What “ideal” beauty standards do we perpetuate as sorority women? Does a sorority woman have to look a certain way? In this session we will take a deeper look at some of our membership practices and examine how “toxic femininity” hurts collegiate chapters, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. We will also address how these ideal beauty standards uphold a historic status quo and how they function to alienate Black women and Women of Color. Click here to access this live session.

Presenters: Bobbi Wilson and Julie Mitchell Session Title: Alumnae Chapter Programming Session Description: This session will focus on one of the key challenges of an alumnae chapter and one most chapters set as a primary goal – keeping members engaged. We’ll share programming ideas that have proven to be successful for other chapters and discuss how some of these ideas can be modified to fit individual chapter needs. We’ll also share ideas for pre- and post-event surveys to help chapters gather ideas and feedback to strengthen their own chapter programming.

Week of August 17:

Presenter: Lisa Humenik, Molly Kenney, Kristin Gustke and Rachel Phelps Session Title: Teamwork in Times of Crisis Session Description: Advisory board and corporation board members are invited to attend this special live session focused on relationship building! Join volunteers from the NHC and the Sorority who will share important information about roles and responsibilities, how to address conflict in a positive manner, and lessons learned from advisory boards and corporation boards who have built strong relationships with one another. You don’t want to miss this session! Click here to access this live session.

Presenter: Cassie Little Session Title: Chapter Engagement Session Description: If your sisters are unmotivated and just not on board with your initiatives to grow and strengthen your chapter, this session is for you! We will spend our time together exploring common reasons members disengage and visualizing how much more impactful our chapters would be if your sisters would buy-in! Participants will leave ready to implement strategies that will help their members cultivate a sense of ownership in their chapter. Our goal of putting these strategies into action would result in a revitalized membership and sisterhood experience! Click here to access this live session.

Presenter: Theressa Irigon-Rachetto Session Title: Interrupting Bias to be a Better Ally Session Description: Everyone can be an ally to someone. It often takes a shift from the unconscious to the conscious to start to become an ally for others. Together we’ll gain an understanding of what unconscious bias is and how it effects allyship. Click here to access this live session.

Presenters: Kristin Ford, Margarita Altidis, Jessica Hornbrook, Shelly Henderson Session Title: Building a Sustainable Advisory Board Session Description: Feeling like the time it takes advising collegians never allows you the time to support your advisory board? Join us to learn tips and tricks on how to build and maintain a sustainable advisory board. We will provide examples of what worked, what didn’t, and what eventually allowed an ABS to step away after cultivating a great replacement and strong advisory board.

Presenter: Jen Stevenson and Dana Finley Session Title: Peer to Peer Accountability Session Description: Why is accountability so awkward? In this session, we will have a candid and open conversation with our collegiate women about peer to peer accountability. We will explore forms of formal and informal accountability through discussing how this relates to your time within Sigma Kappa as a collegiate member and the mechanisms to achieve the different types of accountability. We will also tie in the discussion of how this relates to our values and can be used to avoid certain scenarios and pitfalls that we see chapters experience.

Presenter: Jessica Prentice Hornbrook Session Title: Building the Bench Session Description: As a leader in any situation, it is important to help identify and recognize talent in others. Oftentimes, in a professional situation, an employee is asked, “who would take your role if you were promoted?” Cultivating the skill of preparing future leaders transcends throughout every facet of life.

Presenter: Annette Stewart and Jasmine Hurst Session Title: Including Diversity and Inclusion in Your Chapter Operations Session Description: Join this session to learn more about common diversity and inclusion terms and how learning about them can inform your choices and chapter operations.

Week of August 24:

Presenter: Elizabeth Fisher Session Title: The Job Search Process in 2020 Session Description: Is 2020 your year to make a career move? Whether you’re searching for your first professional role or you’re making a change, the job search process can be challenging as new technology and application processes are constantly evolving. Join Elizabeth Fisher (a recruiter professionally who made a career change in her late 20s) to learn tips and tricks for the job search process and how to utilize your Sigma Kappa network to find your next great opportunity! Click here to access this live session.

Presenter: Jen Stevenson and Dana Finley Session Title: Volunteer Engagement and Retention Session Description: NHC, Foundation and Sorority volunteers – do you struggle to recruit, retain and engage members to your team? We will be discussing our volunteer journey as well as our strategy and approach to engaging and retaining the volunteers we have worked with during that time. We hope to provide some relevant examples and engage with the audience to help them work with their direct reports, teams and peers to better shape and impact our organization. We’ll cover how to engage volunteers, retention techniques, and answering the age-old question: why do we volunteer? Click here to access this live session.

Presenter: Kristen Jenkins Webster Session Title: Members are Customers – What Market Research Foundations Can Teach Us About the Sorority Journey Session Description: Cha-ching! When a young woman makes the choice to join a sorority, she’s making a purchase decision. She’s buying into the idea of lifelong membership – and the way we complete that transaction has an impact on her sorority journey. From value-proposition to return on investment, sorority journey’s look a lot like customer journeys. How can market research best practices help improve the sorority experience? We’ll look at three huge questions used in market research and identify ways to apply them to recruitment, retention, and alumnae engagement. You’ll leave with a profile of All-In, Apathetic and Adios members, and a game plan to increase engagement for the ones most likely to leave the organization.

Presenter: Emma Walls Session Title: Improving your Email Communication Session Description: Have you ever sent an email and not received a timely response? Or maybe you’ve been stumped about what to include that was truly relevant without being wordy? Join us to examine current email communication etiquette, review communication do’s and don’ts, and practice writing more effective emails to receive better responses.

Presenter: Paige Holman Session Title: Accommodating to Women with Invisible Disabilities Session Description: This session will help you learn more about the differences between visible and invisible disabilities through examining one member’s story. She’ll share her experiences of what it’s like to live with an invisible disability and provide chapters with ideas for how they can support their members who also might be living with invisible disabilities!

Presenter: Bobbi Wilson Session Title: Welcoming an Alumna Initiate Session Description: Since graduation have you forgotten how to recruit? Can you identify a woman who would be a good Sigma Kappa alumna initiate? Can you approach a friend or colleague about joining Sigma Kappa? How do you begin the conversation and articulate the benefits of sorority membership after the college years? In this session we’ll discuss how to answer these questions. We’ll also review the administrative procedure for welcoming women as alumnae initiates and the role both the collegiate and the alumnae chapters have in ensuring an alumnae initiate becomes familiar with our history and our Rituals, knows what to expect from being an engaged alumnae member of Sigma Kappa and is integrated into our sisterhood.